Haunted Caboose & Train Ride Highlight Track or Treat Event

Our annual Track or Treat Halloween Express train rides on October 19 & 26 will feature new haunted caboose tours and activities for all ages. Additions, both scary and not-so-scary, have been made to the live, interactive Halloween scenes set up along the 8-mile train ride from Bonsal to New Hill and back.

Rides depart at 4 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Earlier rides may be more suitable for young children. Tickets are $10 per person, adults and children. Buy your tickets here by choosing the Oct. 19 or 26 Halloween Express on the calendar and then the time you want to ride.

We recommend buying your tickets in advance and arriving at least 30 minutes before your departure time. With all there is to see and do during the Track or Treat event, you’ll want to come even earlier!

New to the rail yard are two walk-through haunted cabooses that will be open for tours during the family friendly event. One caboose will be converted into a candle-lit witch’s home, where she’ll consult her crystal ball for information about her young visitors.

The other will feature a mad scientist whose caboose has been transformed into a laboratory. Kids will enjoy making his smoke-filled Boo Bubbles disappear while learning the science behind how bubbles are formed.

Visitors are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes and partake in the photo opportunities upon entering the rail yard through a giant monster mouth. They can even have their photos taken as a princess, mouse, Frankenstein, clown or ghost in a large cut-out photo board.

Kids will receive a toy Monster Repellant to ward off any scary creatures during their visit and a personalized Certificate of Survival as they exit.

In addition to haunted caboose tours in the train yard, visitors will ride in open-air passenger cars pulled by a diesel locomotive that travels past a haunted house emitting cracks of thunder and bolts of lightning.

A steam engine will chug past them on a second set of tracks enveloped in heavy mist, spooky décor and making eerie noises. Crops of craniums, live witches stirring smoking cauldrons and a headless brakeman are a few of the other characters to be encountered during the hour-long ride.

Emily Patterson – Raleigh, NC

My son Ethan grinned from ear to ear during the entire hour-long train ride on the real New Hope Valley Railway train. He was over the moon about getting to see and touch all the train engines and cars up close. We can’t wait to go back!